Science and Medicine

The Brotherton Collection contains some 480 printed books, dating from 1600 to 1750, covering a wide variety of scientific subjects. Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy are strongly represented, but the collection also contains works on magnetism, monsters and melancholy. In addition to Newton's Principiawe have the first edition of his Opticks (1704); William Gilbert's De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus (1600), the first work to demonstate a scientific understanding of magnetism and electricity; and a copy of Robert Boyle's Works (1744) formerly owned by Edmund Burke.

All Souls Science

The All Souls Science Collection contains around 500 books and journals, principally from the 17th century, covering many different aspects of science. The main subjects include astronomy, botany, geometry, mathematics, medicine, chemistry and physiology. There are also early works on types of medical therapy, such as hydrotherapy and wine therapy, and works on poisons and anatomy.

Early Science

The Early Science Collection contains around 2000 books dating from the 16th century onwards, ranging from general works to occultism, inventions, beer and horses. The periodicals held within this collection include copies of Memoirs of Science and the Arts, Scientific Memoirs and Communications to the Board of Agriculture, all dating from the late 18th century.

Chaston Chapman

The Chaston Chapman Collection consists mainly of sets of the Royal Society of London's Philosophical Transactions, from the founding of the Society in the 1660s onwards, along with some later histories and memoirs of the Society. There are also early texts on alchemy such as Roger Bacon's The Mirror of Alchimy (1597) and Dutch and German works on chemical lore, hermetic philosophy, astrology and religion.

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Alfred Chaston Chapman's collection of books on the history of brewing and fermentation.